Pluggers by Rick McKee for January 02, 2025

That’s exactly what I do.

Just give me a person with a tiny bit of sense so I don’t waste half of my life with these phone trees!

Well, I guess this is quite…representative

That Plugger did well finding a contact phone number to ring in the first place.

I also say " person, human, customer service " Each company is different, and those options are not those offered.

This is why I don’t worry about AI taking over the world,

Around and around it goes … and where it stops … no Plugger knows.

three hours on the line with Comcast and still problems today

Another one for the “Been There Done That” list ;-)

Me bear of few words. Me bearly say words.

My reason for calling never fits the list that HAL’s daughter gives me.

Another example of hidden inflation, is the degrading of customer service in America.

But then when you get a representative you get one that doesn’t know manure from shoe polish.

More and more systems just drop the call if you don’t follow the tree. If you do follow the tree, they drop the call after telling you useless “information”. My auto insurance company also has a chatbot, which is about as capable of answering my questions as our 10 month old puppy is. And there is no way to send an email. They use to be a great company and sadly are still the top-rated insurance company around.

The word “agent” seems to work in most cases.

This is why I hate automated answering systems and I usually start hitting ‘0’ multiple times which sometimes works. When I finally do get a person, tell them that it shows a total lack of cutomer service and concern contrary to what they say and “I hope you have that recorded. Now what I’m calling about …”.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get that.” How is that when I speak loud and clear?

" I am sorry, that is not a valid response!"

I try to do business with companies that have US-based support. Three that come to mind are Discover Card, Consumer Cellular, and Microcenter. They do use telephone trees, however, but It is easier to get through than most others.

It’s so hard to get a live person.

No, I hate AI answering phones (Amazon’s the worst) esp when you live in the mountains and your cellphone doesn’t receive codes from them. I end up screaming into the phone!

Half the time this tactic don’t work…..

That… is what AI is giving us.

CVS just eliminated the ability to talk to anyone on the phone. You can leave a voice mail, but it is unlikely to be answered. It is easier and quicker to drive 10 minutes to the pharmacy.

Gethuman dot com might help

So frustrating sometimes!!

That’s why I don’t do telephony if I can, in any way, avoid it.

When “representative” or “supervisor” don’t work, I’ve tried a few others…(you wouldn’t want to know what they are…..)

After about a minute of this I went “Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhh!” and was switched to a representative.

A little while ago I call Customer Service and a real person answered ….. was so shocked that I almost forgot what I called for ….. the lady said that ……. she heard that reaction a lot ….. :)

Try pressing “0” over and over, too ;)

The old Sprint customer service system was terrible! My husband and daughter both worked at Sprint, and told me if I had to call to swear loudly into the phone. It overwhelmed the computer system and switched to a live rep. Worked every time.

I either just hit 0 over and over, or say “real person” over and over

I had to call a health care facility about a bill recently and after being on hold forever I was told If I want to leave a message press 1, after which I get “this service does not accept messages!!!!”

“PHARMACIST !”

I wait for a live person to find out why the line is still open. And politely ask them to help.

is he calling express scripts

That’s the only way to get anywhere.

That’s every call to XFinity.